What’s more powerful than a bunch of giant robots and giant monsters? What’s more powerful than Adam Sandler and all his buddies? This weekend gave us a definitive answer: a lovable supervillain voiced by Steve Carell. ‘Despicable Me 2‘ triumphed at the box office for the second week in a row, beating out newcomers like ‘Grown Ups 2‘ and ‘Pacific Rim‘ and making it look easy.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Despicable Me 2

$44,754,000 (-46.4)

$11,180

$229,237,000

2

Grown Ups 2

$42,500,000

$12,174

$42,500,000

3

Pacific Rim

$38,300,000

$11,695

$38,300,000

4

The Heat

$14,000,000 (-43.5)

$4,476

$112,363,000

5

The Lone Ranger

$11,140,000 (-61.9)

$2,853

$71,101,000

6

Monsters University

$10,621,000 (-46.1)

$3,380

$237,760,000

7

World War Z

$9,430,000 (-48.8)

$3,140

$177,087,000

8

White House Down

$6,150,000 (-54.4)

$2,397

$62,963,000

9

Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain

$5,000,000 (-50.2)

$5,605

$26,378,000

10

Man of Steel

$4,825,000 (-57.7)

$2,244

$280,995,000

After its massive opening weekend, everyone expected ‘Despicable Me 2′ to take a big drop and settle into second or third place. Well, we were right about one part of that. The animated movie did take a big drop, but it wasn’t big enough for all of the fresh competition to take over. With another $44 million in the bank and a current total of $229 million, the film is already one of the year’s biggest hits. Expect this one to close out with $300 million at the very least, and ‘Despicable Me 3′ to get fast-tracked.

Of the newcomers, Adam Sandler’s ‘Grown Ups 2′ fared the best, taking in $42 million. Despite the fact that people of taste generally find his films obnoxious, Sandler has his fans and they turned out in force. The movie will have to have legs if it wants to match the gross of its predecessor, but we imagine that it’ll fare well in the weeks ahead.

In third place, Guillermo del Toro‘s ‘Pacific Rim’ opened to a disappointing $38 million, a low gross for a big budget studio release with all kinds of mainstream appeal. Although generally well-liked by film fans, the movie’s “Giant Robots vs. Giant Monsters” premise didn’t seem to catch on with mainstream audiences (especially since it was sold as a ‘Transformers’ knock-off instead of the goofy family movie that it is). Something could always turn it around — international grosses, small percentage drops, etc. — but it definitely looks like all of that sequel talk was very premature.

Meanwhile, ‘The Heat‘ continued to triumph in fourth place, taking in another $14 million for a $112 million total. This is the second Melissa McCarthy comedy to cross the $100 million mark this year and the second smash hit for director Paul Feig. If you want an example of two people who are currently powerful enough to do whatever the heck they want in Hollywood for the next few years, look no further.

In fifth place, ‘The Lone Ranger‘ continued trudging forward, grossing $11 million for a $71 million total. Considering the rumored $250 million budget, this is not good. At all. This is ‘John Carter’ bad. However, Disney shouldn’t be too upset. Right below Johnny Depp‘s failed western is ‘Monsters University,’ which made $10 million over the weekend and has $237 million total. That can’t erase the pain of ‘The Lone Ranger,’ but it certainly dulls it.

In seventh place, ‘World War Z‘ is staring at the $200 million mark and muttering “I think I can.” With a current gross of $177 million, it has to hang on for a few more weeks to reach that particular milestone. Can it? Will it? We guess no, but we’ve been wrong before. Expect it to top out around the mid-$190 millions.

In the final stretch, ‘White House Down‘ continued to massively underperform, ‘Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain’ took the expected drop and ‘Man of Steel,’ while successful, is starting to realize that $300 million is just out of reach.

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